Historical mystery aboard the Queen Mary bound to New York in 1936.
Lena Aldridge aspires to a life on the stage so she jumps at the chance to travel to New York when Charlie Bacon offers her a job on Broadway and a first class cabin on the Queen Mary. Let's just say that she is leaving London under a bit of a cloud so she does not ask the right questions when she accepts this opportunity from a stranger who claims to be there at the behest of an old friend of her recently deceased father. Once aboard the ship, she meets an upper class family that is traveling together and, although she is mixed race, Lena allows others to believe she is Italian. Not that they really pay much attention to her as they have enough drama among them. Soon enough there's a murder and Lena has no idea whom to trust.
This was an entertaining read but I especially enjoyed the historical and period details more than the plot. The timeline jumps between events that transpired in London and those that happen on the ship. Mostly told from Lena's point of view, there is, however, another character whose narrative informs that they know what is going on and why with a very elaborate plan. The character of Lena is tolerable, but she did not capture my interest as she seemed very shallow and immature. The secondary cast personified all the types that you might find on a ship during that time period doing all the things that would be normal behavior for them. Casual drug use, alcohol, sexual trysts, and smoking combine with the class dynamics between the upper and lower deck people. I just never really became totally convinced by their authenticity enough to care about any of them. I had already figured out the mind behind the intrigue so the reveal was no surprise.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Books for this e-book ARC to read and review.
This is a standalone at present and not part of a series.
Genre - historical mystery 1936
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